Tenet Moves to Beef Up Compliance

Tenet Healthcare Corp., the nation’s second-largest hospital operator, said Monday that it was strengthening its compliance team.

The Santa Barbara-based company, which has 40 hospitals and 35,000 employees in California, has been the subject of several regulatory investigations into its billing and recruiting practices

Tenet named Cheryl Wagonhurst, 43, its chief compliance officer. She will oversee a 40-person team that will include clinicians, accountants and legal experts.

The company also said it had hired D. McCarty “Mac” Thornton as special advisor to its compliance department. Thornton was formerly chief counsel to the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Trevor Fetter, Tenet’s chief executive, mentioned the appointments at the company’s annual meeting July 23.

The hospital chain is facing several federal and state investigations of its business operations, including a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission into its Medicare billing practices.